Surfing On The Moon
by Kerstae
Summary: AU post-season 3 prequel of Legendary. LoVe set before the movie Veronica Mars 2014. Logan is thinking about Veronica during those 9 years of radio silence.
1. Chapter 1

Songs that inspired this short Logan story – Anna Leone – My Soul I & Max Schneider – I'll come back for you.

It had been exactly eight years, two months and three days since Logan Echolls had seen Veronica Mars and for some reason, she had been fleeting through his mind more often than not recently. His heart felt a little heavy as he listened to the sounds of his shipmates as they carried out their duties.

Maybe that's because he knew she would never have done something like this to him… Carrie was cheating on him, and he knew it, part of him didn't really care anymore, her shitty friends and the constant tabloid drama were wearing him down. They were supposed to be getting ready to settle down, build a life together… but the constant partying, the lying and the incidents of her being so drunk she passed out and missed their skype dates was telling him more and more that it wasn't going to happen. They'd had a good first year, now he felt like he was constantly trying to get her back on an even keel but you couldn't help someone who wouldn't help themselves. He knew that all too well.

At least out here running the routine maintenance checks with his crew mates on The USS Truman, he could get away from it all for a while. Four months and six days into his current deployment and his popstar girlfriend was pissed at him that he couldn't just go AWOL to attend the MTV Music awards with her. Bonnie De-Ville, Neptune, California's biggest success story since Kane Industries had launched streaming digital video. Her latest album, Confessional was taking the charts by storm and it had created a Media Tsunami. Not that she would admit to being angry with him, he had always a weakness for emotionally unavailable women he supposed. Their last attempted at a romantic weekend together during his shore leave in Italy, he had lost his temper and beaten the hell out of the paparazzi who had abseiled down the building into their bedroom.

"Hey Mouth, I'll see you in the Mess in 20" Bilbo called out and Logan nodded in agreement.

Every hour of his day was scheduled here, down to every single minute, every decision was triple signed off and he would be on clean up duty the second he stepped out of line. Military life was nothing like those frivolous days of his youth. It was his birthday today, and he knew the guys were planning a small celebration, in an occupation like this when you threw yourself head first into harm's way, every excuse to celebrate was taken up with great enthusiasm.

If it hadn't been for signing up to the Navy, Logan doubted he ever would have made it this far. If it hadn't have been for Dr. Galway his history professor at Hearst… he very well wouldn't have survived this long. Flying those Jets is what had saved his life.

 _Dude… have a great birthday man, beer's when you get home Bro – Dick._

The email this morning had been short but it had been enough to get him reminiscing about those days back at Neptune High, had it really almost been 10 years soon? The thought of never getting to see her again, of it just being over had haunted him the night of his Alterna-Prom, he hadn't thought such a thing would be survivable. Perhaps he had been being a little bit dramatic.

His adopted sister Trina had sent him a small box of aftershaves and chocolates, and a homemade card from his nieces, apparently having a brother who may shuffle off this mortal coil due to his occupation meant the last few years they had been making more of an effort to stay in contact. Motherhood suited her.

Maybe it's the way the sunlight bounced off the waves as he stood looking out onto the horizon that reminded him of the golden strands of her hair, or the pure blue clarity of the sky today that reminded him of her eyes, whatever it was, he let himself miss her for a moment.

 _Marshmallows and Promises…_

They had been too young, loved each other too fiercely and their intense connection had been so strong that it had ultimately torn them apart but he wouldn't have traded that time for anything else in the world. Except maybe one more day of it. He had screwed it up and this was his burden, he couldn't rewrite those stars. He'd have better luck surfing on the moon. Something about staring into the waves always calmed his soul. Lynn Echolls his mother had committed suicide by jumping into the ocean when he was 17 years old, and her body had never been recovered, yet part of him could always feel close to her when he could smell the sea air, like she was with him somehow. It was comforting.

It had been complete radio silence since that morning Veronica Mars had left for the summer to go to her Internship at the FBI and he hadn't heard from her since, she never returned to Hearst College after that, she had transferred to Stanford and shortly afterwards Keith Mars had moved out of the two bedroom apartment in the Sunset Crescent Apartment's and left no forwarding address.

No response to his emails, no New Year's or Christmas text's exchanged. She had just disappeared from his life. The distance over the years had made it a little easier to move on.

He had always thought their story was Epic, the girl who had taken down the monster from his nightmares, his father Aaron Echolls, A List Movie star, the man who had killed his first ever girlfriend, Lilly Kane. Even now Logan knew he was still in love with her, the elusive force of nature that was his smart mouthed Petite Blond Sexy Sleuth. He wondered if she was thinking about him today, if she would notice the date on her calendar and wish him a silent happy birthday, even if she would never reach out. Of course she would, no detail went unnoticed by that beautiful mind.

 _"It's always been Veronica"_ Parker had told him. It always would be… in their own way.

 _Should he be feeling guilty about thinking about a girl who wasn't his girlfriend?_ Maybe, but this could be his little secret. It's not like he was still that lovesick boy waiting for her to come back for him.

"You trying to catch glimpse of a Mermaid?" Lieutenant Tad Gleason joked, knocking him from his melancholy gaze.

"Naw man, just taking it all in" he smiled.

"Yeah… it really is something, never fails to take my breath away" the Lieutenant agreed as they watched the Jet's pull some manoeuvres.

"Too bad you didn't score high enough by Medical after that cold, you could be up there today yourself" he smiled quietly. Lieutenant Tad "Dreamer" Gleason had recently failed the assessment to transfer into the Naval Aviator programme himself but he was still a damn fine engineer, one of the best on board.

"Ack, some things just aren't meant to be" Gleason told him before he turned and picked up the tool box he had been carrying.

"Yeah, I guess not" Logan smiled sadly, but his mind was thinking back on a particular blond Private Eye. Some things just weren't meant to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Song for this one. Rhys Lewis – Reason to Hate You.

There are just some days that roll around unexpectedly and slap you in the face. January 13th is one of those, at least for Veronica Mars it was. Stosh "Piz" Piznarski was finishing moving the last of his things into her shoebox apartment in Brooklyn this afternoon. They were making their own attempts to build a home, a life together, her first attempt at being a proper grown up… with an adult let's move in together, share a wardrobe, pick up more milk on the way home honey kind of existence. And then there it was.. Hidden Treasure, her Neptune High Yearbook.

She hadn't even opened it in about 9 years, not since Wallace had decided to Fed-Ex it to her as a joke a few weeks ago because she had been teasing about his old knees during the aches and pains he was feeling over coaching basketball season this year.

So much of her life was unrecognisable to the version of herself she had envisioned at 18.

She opened up the book and her eyes lingered over all the familiar faces, the memorial page for those kids lost during Senior Year in the bus crash. The one that had narrowly avoided claiming her own life. The photograph of Lilly Kane, her murdered best friend, and the others she had shared with the editorial team of the Kane siblings.

She had heard rumours that her old boyfriend, Duncan Kane was living in Australia with his daughter these days but she wasn't certain, _probably best to keep it that way_. Kidnapping cases tended not to go away. The inside of the cover was inscribed with all the well wishes and thanks message from her various clients… but she didn't do all that Private Eye work anymore. Then she got to it… the picture of Him.

 _It was his birthday today._

Logan Echolls.

Her high school boyfriend. The Epic Love of her life. Star-crossed.

Even now the sight of him smiling in his picture made her heart ache; those honey brown eyes looked into her soul from even here as she smiled sadly at the irony of his year book quote.

"It is not in the stars who hold our destiny but in ourselves – William Shakespeare"

If the stars had had anything to do with it, perhaps they still would have been together. No one wrote songs about the ones that came easy, but nothing about her relationship with Logan had ever been easy. She couldn't explain the magnetic pull that she still felt to him, the one that called her home, no matter how hard she had tried to run from it.

 _Give us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change._

She hadn't meant to stay away for so long, after her Internship at the FBI and her father losing office after the evidence tampering accusations after her take down of The Castle… it had all come at too high a cost. She had to break away, make a fresh start, that video… it had followed her for a while but her studies at Stanford and then Columbia Law School had absorbed almost all of her life up until this point, if it hadn't been for Piz's insistence on trying to become a part of her life after they both found themselves living in New York she probably would still be trying to negotiate the commitment to getting herself a house plant. She might never have found herself giving herself another chance at love.

She hadn't found the strength to try and stay friends with Logan, some people were just coiled inside us too tightly… some loves were just too impossible to let go. Distance had been the only thing that had helped.

She had dated, but no one ever seemed worth it to make her slow down enough to distract herself from her goals. She would be taking the bar exam in 7 short months. She was in her final year.

But a part of her always did wonder… she had been so angry with Logan after he had been with Madison Sinclair, if he had given her just a little more time before he dated Parker… where would they have been now? If she hadn't been so stubborn… so filled with the need for vengeance… could they have made it? Did she wish she could have made different choices? Sometimes.. but they were who they were.

 _"Our story is Epic.. spanning years and continents.. lives ruined and bloodshed… Epic."_

The memories were strong tonight, like something whispering in the cold night air pulling him into her thoughts, unwelcome, unbidden. Wrapping the ghosts of him around her heart.

Veronica had heard from mutual friends she had bumped into over the years that he had gotten his life together, joined the military although she couldn't quite picture the smart mouth boy with a problem for authority figures having the discipline to survive in the Navy.

Turns out New York could be actually really small considering it was home to 8.5 million people and she had heard stories from time to time through classmates she would meet unexpectedly… each time she had been tempted to reach out… but she never did. Not that she hated him, she could barely remember anymore why those revelations about that night with Madison had made her so upset. She had been so young then, so inexperienced _. Wasn't everything the end of the world when you were a teenager?_

It could have been so easy to reply to those emails he had sent for Christmas during the first few years they had been apart… but those were scars she wasn't sure she wanted to re-open. He was all over the newspaper pages the last two years because of his relationship with Carrie Bishop another girl from their high school and MTV's female vocalist of the year. She had changed her name to Bonnie De-Ville and was tearing up the charts and the gossip columns. Neptune's very own Hometown celebrity couple. Son of a Movie Star and his Pop star girlfriend.

 _Maybe it was seeing the two of them on the cover of Vanity Fair together a few months ago that had made Veronica finally embrace letting the past go and give Piz a chance?_ She pondered quietly as she stared at the number in her phone. She wasn't even sure if he had kept it the same. She would just have to swallow this hurt a little longer, she would be stronger. It would pass, eventually. _Everything fades with time right?_

She had to leave him to the peace he had found and move on with hers she thought finally as she glanced at her boyfriend reading his notes for his radio show tomorrow.

What she had with Piz was solid, her life wasn't in Neptune anymore, it was here in New York and it had a Finals paper to sit in 6 hours she reasoned as she slipped the phone back into her bag and tucked a strand of her blond hair behind ear and focused on her textbook.

Some things you couldn't go back to. Somethings just needed left alone.


End file.
